16th piano concerto (Mozart)

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The 16th Piano Concerto in D major, KV 451 , is a piano concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . In counting the pure piano concertos by Mozart, it is the 10th concert.

Emergence

The 16th piano concerto is one of four concerts that Mozart composed for his own performances in Vienna in 1784 . During this time he gave numerous concerts and felt compelled to offer the audience new works. Compared to the previous 15th piano concerto , Mozart expanded the orchestra to include trumpets and timpani, as last happened in the 13th piano concerto, K. 415 . The whole concert is thematically related to the opera Idomeneo , which Mozart had written three years earlier.

music

1st movement: Allegro

The main clause begins with a march-like theme. The orchestra is large with trumpets and timpani. The structure of the movement is simpler than in the previous concert, but the conception is more virtuoso. The long exposition sees two themes in a similar style and a long, three-part ending. The solo piano takes up the main theme immediately. The implementation draws on an inconspicuous secondary motif from the exposition. Time and again, the flute has important tasks. The recapitulation again deviates from the exposition; it appears in a greatly expanded form. This is followed by a brilliant solo cadenza that works largely unmotively. The movement ends unusually with an organ point on the flute, which is accompanied by closing chords from the orchestra.

2nd movement: Andante

In the Andante, a lyrical sound is created without trumpets, timpani and a few woodwinds. In terms of shape, this middle movement is a rondo . The first couplet quotes a passage from Idomeneo, which leads to a song-like, almost vocal character of the music, an example of the so-called speaking principle in instrumental music. The second couplet is introduced by the horns and leads to E minor. As is often the case with Mozart, it is in two parts and ends in C major. The coda once again brings new topics.

3rd movement: Rondo, Allegro di molto

The final rondo opens up the dance music for the concert context. The elegant refrain represents a counter-dance . The soloist's entrance takes place with a fanfare taken from the second part of the main theme. The first couplet, on the other hand, is designed in the style of a German dance . The return of the refrain theme brings with it splendid ornamentation of the solo piano. After a demanding cadence, there is a surprising change in time to 3/8 time, in which the refrain returns. A few festive chords from the piano and orchestra then end the movement in a coda that, unusually, takes up elements from the first couplet.

Status

The 16th piano concerto continues the great classical form of the piano concerto achieved in the 15th piano concerto KV 450 . The role of the winds is now obligatory, the main movements begin with large orchestral expositions , the movements partially relate to one another, the formal principles are freely interpreted and the solo part is more difficult and virtuoso. The main theme of the first movement, like a military march, is similar to the so-called military concerts KV 456 and KV 459 , which were written shortly afterwards. In the present concert, Mozart establishes dance in the context of the concert. Again, Mozart proves that he can expand the prevailing formal principles and reinterpret them at any time.

literature

  • Hansjürgen Schaefer: concert book orchestral music GO. VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1978, ISBN 3-370-00036-9 .
  • Harenberg concert guide. Harenberg Kommunikation, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-611-00535-5 .
  • Marius Flothuis: Mozart's Piano Concertos. CH Beck Wissen, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-41874-0 .

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